This past weekend, I visited a couple of farmer’s markets on a mission: pickles! And guess what? I found them! I just love the wide variety offered by the pickle vendors. One of the best parts of buying from a vendor is being able to buy individual pickles, so I can try a new flavor without committing to a whole container (pickle-on-a-stick, anyone?). While I’m a fan of the traditional varieties, one of my favorites has to be horseradish; it’s got that perfect kick!
Have you ever tried horseradish or another type of spicy pickle? What’s your favorite type? Let me know in the comment section!
Once just a humble sidekick to burgers and deli sandwiches, pickles have stepped into the spotlight starring in everything from craft cocktails to potato chips, and yes, even ice cream. According to research at imarcgroup.com, the U.S. pickle market was valued at 3.1 billion dollars in 2024 with the growth being driven by rising health trends (like gut-friendly fermented foods and probiotics), demand for convenient snacking, flavor innovation with bold and global varieties, plant-based diet adoption, and foodservice expansion.
Types of Pickles
Pickles come in a wide variety of styles, each defined by the unique ingredients in their brine. If you’re a pickle lover, you’ll be familiar with all of the types listed below from tasteofhome.com.
Dill : The most popular type in the U.S, and the one you’ll find most of in grocery stores, whether they’re whole, cut into spears, or sliced into chips. These brined cucumbers are packed with dill seed or fresh dill and are often enhanced with additional spices including garlic, pickling spice or pepper flakes.
Bread & Butter: They earned this name because you can turn them into a tasty sandwich with nothing more than pickles, bread, and butter. They’re a type of sweet pickle made with a sugar and salt brine, creating a balance between sweet and sour.
Sweet: These have added sugar in the brine, giving them a candy-like finish. Most sweet pickles also contain onion and spices, and they may have extra vinegar to balance out the sweetness.
Cornichons or Gherkins: Cornichons are made with gherkin cucumbers, a small variety that’s bumpier than most cucumbers. These tiny cucumbers are picked while they’re extremely small, creating pickles that are perfect for serving whole on a charcuterie board.
Sour: These are made in a salt-water brine, so they don’t have any vinegar flavor. Instead, the acidic (sour) flavor comes from the fermentation process. The longer they ferment, the tangier they are. When sold as half-sour, it means they didn’t ferment quite as long.
Kosher: Kosher pickles refer to the style of pickling brought to the United States by Jewish immigrants in the early 1900s. These are made using a salt brine (just like sour ones), and they contain generous amounts of garlic and dill.
Fun Facts about Pickles
I came across these interesting fun facts about pickles that you might enjoy:
- Pickling, as a method of food preservation, dates back to 2400 BC in Mesopotamia.
- Pickles have been enjoyed by various cultures throughout history, including the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. The famous queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, was said to have attributed her beauty to her pickle-rich diet.
- Some believe pickles aid digestion due to the probiotics created during fermentation. They’re also a source of vitamins A and C. Pickle juice is known to be used by athletes to help with muscle cramps and hydration.
Scanning Tip for NCP Panel Members
Don’t forget to scan all your UPC-barcoded pickle purchases, and, if you get pickles at a farmer’s market or from barrels or containers in a store, you can tell us about those purchases, too. If you use the NCPMobile app, since there’s no farmer’s market store type at this time, choose the “Fruit Stand/Store” store type. If you bought the pickles in a store, select the name of the store you shopped at. Then, on the Non-Barcoded Items list, select “Vegetables>Other Vegetables” to report the purchase. If you use NCP’s handheld scanner, follow these same instructions and refer to the Barcode Reference Booklet.
Regards,
Taylor
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I love pickles of every kind. My favorite is jalapeno flavored but they are hard to find. The horseradish flavor you are talking about sounds delicious so I need to try to find those.
I can pickles every year. Make dill chips for burgers or hotdogs, regular dill, relish, pickles with a tiny bit of heat to them too.
I use pickles on sandwiches that I make of course it is several dill slices. I use dill relish in tuna salad and hot dogs, but sometimes I get the urge for sweet relish on a hot dog. But I am particularly a fan of my grandmother’s homemade bread and butter pickles. The ones in the store are close, but her’s were a lot better.
I love pickles